Browsing by Author "Rehnström, Johanna"

he aim of this Thesis was to examine in which way a Finnish-speaking immersionprogram affects Swedish-speaking children’s attitudes towards the Finnish language, seen from a parent ́s perspective. The context in which the study was made and in which the children are growing up, is very homogeniously Swedish-speaking. A view on attitudes as socially constructed and strongly imprinted by the surrounding culture and the ambient environment acted as theoretical frame for the study. Immersion is a volontary form of education, that is why the study proceeds from a hypothesis on parents wanting to place their children in immersion, in hope of mediating a positive attitude towards the Finnish language. The research questions were as follows: 1. Which discourses emerge when parents talk about the Finnish language, the immersionprogram and their children’s attitudes towards the Finnish language? 2. Which functions do these discourses fulfil? A discoursepsychological approach enabled an interpretation of the material where the context is strongly present. Six parents were interviewed for the study. They had all had at least one child in the same immersionprogram kindergarten. The result shows that the parents consider Finnish as a difficult language and that the attitudes toward Finnish in the own municipality are poor. Finnish is seen as necessary, and the own experiences confirm this view. Participation in the immersion program, and the immersion program itself, are seen as effective ways of strengthening the positive attitude in the context in which the children grow up. The immersionprogram is based on a principal of functional multilingualism, which is also what the parents wish for their children. The results confirm that the parents consider this a good starting position for the future. The immersionprogram and the positive attitude strengthen the childs selfassurance, facilitate in future study- and workcontextures and contribute to a greater tolerance against other cultures, languages and languagespeakers. Accordingly, the immersionprogram would be an advantage for all children who grow up in a similar context as in this study. On a local political level this should be taken into consideration.